Kingdom Holding Soars After Alwaleed Released From Harsh Confines Of The Ritz-Carlton

On Saturday, Prince Alwaleed bin Talal was released from Alcatraz. And by Alcatraz I mean the Riyadh Ritz-Carlton, which is what counts as “prison” for Saudi royals caught up in Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s efforts to consolidate power, shore up SAMA reserves, and just generally let everyone know who’s going to be running shit for the foreseeable future.

Although Prince Miteb bin Abdullah’s detention was arguably more interesting, Alwaleed grabbed all the international headlines because, well, because he’s a celebrity and a well-known international investor.

There was no shortage of speculation about exactly how he was being treated and about what it was his cousin was trying to get out of him, but ultimately, the situation was “resolved” this week and as of Saturday, Alwaleed was apparently back chillin’ at the crib doing whatever you do when you’re a Saudi billionaire (maybe play with pet tigers or wipe down your Lamborghinis with a chamois).

And although I’m reasonably sure you don’t care, it is worth noting that Kingdom Holding – which plunged upon news of his detention in November and hadn’t recovered – was limit up on Sunday:

That right there is the biggest gain since November of 2014, and 10% is the daily limit.

Only another 2% to go before this whole bizarre episode is “forgiven” – or at least according to the stock.

And look, this wasn’t a complete waste for Alwaleed. After all, he did get a commemorative mug as a keepsake and a reminder of the time his cousin locked him up in the nicest hotel on the planet for no reason…

Writing about a subject is the best
way to educate yourself about it, and when I flick through past work I remember how much
they taught me, if no one else. Mainly they taught me that I didn’t know very much. But they
also taught me that most other people didn’t know much either. Thus, some key themes
which stand out include the illusory control of policy makers, the presumed knowledge of
those looking to them to actively do good, the ease with which we fool ourselves, and how
best to protect capital in the face of such unavoidable uncertainty. -- Dylan Grice